With regard to a car-following controller that makes a subject vehicle follow a preceding vehicle that repeatedly stops and starts, while maintaining a constant inter-vehicle distance, so as to alleviate the burden of operation on a driver when there is congestion, etc., there is an arrangement known from Patent Document 1 below in which, for the purpose of dealing with a case in which it would be dangerous if the subject vehicle automatically started while following a preceding vehicle at an intersection, level crossing, etc., starting of the subject vehicle is prohibited unless the driver operates a start switch or depresses an accelerator pedal even when starting of the preceding vehicle is detected.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-147160